Musée d’Art et d’Histoire de Provence

This local-history museum, at home since 1921 in an aristocratic hôtel particulier (mansion), is a wonderful evocation of life in the 18th century. Rooms are laid out pretty much as they were when the marquise of Clapiers-Cabris lived here – he loathed his mother, who lived opposite, so much that he had a Gorgon’s head carved over his door to leer through her windows. Don’t miss the ground-floor kitchen, decorative art collection and gardens with beautiful springtime wisteria. Admission also includes entry to the Villa Musée Jean-Honoré Fragonard . Before entering the museum, pause for a moment to admire, lower down the street, the beautiful (if now abandoned), eclectic façade of what was Hugues-Ainé Perfumery in the 19th century.